Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Double or Nothing

The Cape Cod Times has a report of the disbarred lawyer who has twice bilked clients of massive amounts of money to feed an online poker obsession. According to the Times report:

"A disbarred Dennis lawyer admitted Friday that he stole $650,000 from a client to feed his gambling habit.

John 'Jack' Roberts Jr., 59, pleaded guilty in Barnstable Superior Court to one count of larceny over $250 by a single scheme. Once a respected real estate attorney, baseball coach and town volunteer, he used his client's money to fuel an obsession with online poker, according to court records. Prosecutors alleged that Roberts stole $650,000 from Middleboro. This is the second time Roberts has been convicted of bilking a client out of cash so he could gamble it away. In 2007, he was sentenced to house arrest after pleading guilty to stealing $137,000 from a Sandwich woman's estate. At that time, he had control of the late Alice May's $600,000 estate. resident Norman Sasville – wiring the bulk of it to gambling Web sites."
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When I was at Fort Knox learning how to shoot a tank, before going overseas I got into a poker game and I lost $12 in mmmmmm 5 minutes. This $12 represented approximately 9 % of my monthly income in 1972 dollars. I did not enjoy the sensation. This turns out to have been one of the luckiest and cheapest of my bad learning experiences since aside from the occasional lottery ticket--I do not find gambling attractive or enjoyable.

2 comments:

I was 6 when my Pop pop gave me a dollar in dimes, while we shouted answers at a grainy 15 inch TV with bunny ears, that was blasting out jeopardy. Every time I blurted out what I believed to be the answer he "bet" me a dime that he was right and I was wrong. Needless to say I lost that dollar in a matter of two commercial breaks. I have never again forsaken a windfall and never gambled what was not mine nor what I could not afford to lose. Thanks Pop.